Animal grooming is necessary to undertake for any animal owner or caretaker. Proper and complete grooming of an animal not only contributes to the animal's health, hygiene, and behavior by ridding its coat of foreign debris, but also provides beneficial secondary health benefits to those who care or spend time with the animal. Animal grooming may prove to be difficult, however, when the animal moves about or attempts escape due to discomfort or pain during the grooming process, typically as a result of flawed grooming brushes and devices. In turn, the likelihood of injury to the animal and animal handler is increased by virtue of those ineffective grooming devices. The animal may also develop a negative association with the grooming process due to its discomfort in detriment to future grooming attempts and the overall health of the animal.
There are several grooming devices known in the art that are flawed in various respects. First, many of the known grooming devices have a tendency to generate a significant amount of electrostatic energy, or static electricity, during contact with the animal in the grooming process, particularly in drier climates and during drier times of the year. Second, many of the known grooming devices fail to allow for a full range of motion of the user's grooming hand and fingers, thereby making grooming more arduous for the user and uncomfortable for the animal. Third, many of the known devices are also incapable of performing a thorough and complete grooming of the animal due to the lack of dexterity and reach on the part of the user.
For example, many traditional grooming brushes have rigid handles and sharp edges, which are conducive to build-ups of static electricity. As such, the rigid shape and sharp edges may cause pain or discomfort to the animal due to inadvertently rough contact with the animal during grooming, and there is an additional possibility of delivering an electrostatic shock as the brush comes into contact with the animal. Furthermore, a traditional grooming brush lacks the flexibility to provide a thorough grooming and does not allow for the user to maintain dexterity in his or her grooming hand. Thus, the user cannot groom the animal in hard-to-reach places, cannot use both hands to keep the animal steady, and cannot use both hands to pick up cleaning supplies or other items as may be necessary during the grooming process.
In addition to a traditional grooming brush with a rigid handle, there also exist different types of grooming gloves with various types of abrasive textured material portions on the fingers of the glove and/or on the palm that are utilized in brushing and combing the animal. In contrast to traditional grooming brushes, the grooming gloves attempt to provide more dexterity for the user and avoid the cumbersome nature of the traditional grooming brush. Nonetheless, many grooming gloves still suffer from failing to allow for adequate hand and finger freedom of movement and failing to eliminate the danger of electrostatic shock to the animal during the grooming process.
Furthermore, none of the known grooming devices, including both traditional brush and glove designs, have adequate bristle structures, nor are they comprised of effective materials to enable the user to conduct a competent grooming of an animal without causing pain or discomfort.
What is needed is an animal grooming device with an improved design that avoids the cumbersome nature of the aforementioned traditional brush and grooming glove designs, allows for flexibility and freedom of movement of the user's grooming hand and fingers, and reduces the effects of electrostatic shock to the animal during the grooming process.